When cutting an object, for example an animal skin, using a tool controlled by a computer system, it is necessary to previously define a cutting program, and said program must take account of certain particularities of the skin to be cut, for example its shape and its orientation relative to said tool, and also possible defects therein. In order to cut pieces out from an animal skin having predetermined shapes, templates having said shapes may be placed manually on the skin and the computer may be required to read the positions of the templates relative to the position of the skin and to store them in memory for cutting-out purposes. A competent operator is capable of placing templates on the skin in such a manner as to take account of possible defects therein. It is also possible to place the templates interactively using the screen of a computer terminal which includes an inputting accessory such as a keyboard associated with a digitizing table and a screen which displays an image of the skin together with the templates; however most defects do not then appear on the screen because of the poor sensitivity of the cameras currently in use, and as a result these defects cannot be taken into account when defining a cutting-out program.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a method of cutting out pieces from an object, in particular an object in sheet form, by means of a tool which is controlled by a computer system in accordance with a cutting program that may depend on certain particularities of said object, and in particular on defects therein, without it being necessary to manually place templates having the shapes of said pieces, i.e. the invention seeks to define the cutting program directly on said object.